


Goodbye Earl

by aserene



Series: Expressing the Inexpressible [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Murder Mystery, Songfic, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28988421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aserene/pseuds/aserene
Summary: Because Earl had to die…Gibbs encounters a surprise in what appears to be a routine investigation.--Based on The Chicks song "Goodbye Earl"
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jenny Shepard
Series: Expressing the Inexpressible [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085183
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Goodbye Earl

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: “Goodbye Earl” Property of the Dixie Chicks, don’t own NCIS either, just borrow the characters.  
> You may want to look up the song and hit play before reading.

Gibbs hated having to travel to the middle of nowhere for investigations. He would have simply sent Tony and the rest of the team, but he felt the need to be defiant. Or rather piss off a specific Director of NCIS who had been MIA for the week. She had left him in charge when he had casually inquired where she was rushing off to; she said it was personal. He ignored that, mainly because it said secret romantic getaway, and he didn’t like that idea. However, he had one thing going against the surmounting evidence of the romantic getaway; she’d been upset when she left.  _ No, not upset, _ he corrected himself,  _ distracted. _ Admittedly he had first gone through all her emails, but there was nothing overly alarming, except maybe the fact she missed a hair appointment. He’d then gone through the recent cases looking for something that had set her off; there wasn’t anything. 

Then they’d gotten this case. It had appeared to be an open shut drowning by suicide, except for the obvious blue tarp encasing the body. The locals had called them in when they found a base ID card. He’d gotten himself, his team, and Ducky on a plane. Abby was left behind mainly because she had plans, but she would also be in the lab. While Gibbs knew he could covet her attention, it wasn’t fair to the other teams. They were now pulling up to the high school to talk to teachers as it was apparently a small town where everyone knew everyone else and secrets were nonexistent. He entered high school, followed by Tony and Ziva. McGee and Ducky had gone back to their police station to find some morgue like place. They followed the local Sheriff, who was going on loudly about some such nonsense about the town’s historical aspect. 

“Oh god lord Robert, do shut it!” An elder woman called from an office. “You’ll talk these nice folks’ ears off. I do apologize for that. How can I help you?”

“Ma, this is Special Agent Gibbs and his team from NCIS, they’re Navy Cops.”  
“Yes, dear, I do know what NCIS stands for, and how can we help you today?”

“Earl Massie,” Gibbs answered. “His body was recovered from the lake about ten miles outside town.”

“Finally found Earl, good lord he’s been missing a while.”

“He was murdered,” Tony piped up and then backed off at Gibbs’ glare.

“Murdered? Well, I doubt anyone here did it, though if you ask me, the poor girl is better off.”

“Girl?” Ziva questioned.

“Had a wife; she was trying to get a divorce, Elizabeth. Last I heard, she was living in Jenny’s old place.”  
“And Jenny is?”  
“Her best friend,” the Sheriff supplied. “The two most beautiful girls in the whole town.” 

“Yes, well,” the woman continued. “Jenny’s parents were well off; her father had a place just outside DC, took her to live there after high school graduation, Elizabeth stayed here.”

“Good woman that Elizabeth,” the Sheriff praised, admittedly Gibbs was more interested in the Jenny girl, but he didn’t say so. 

“You have a picture of both of them?” Gibbs inquired.

“Only of Elizabeth, I’m afraid, about ten years ago Jenny was in town while Elizabeth was in the hospital. She asked for all the photos of her to be removed and burned. I assumed it meant she was starting over, and then lo and behold; I saw her just the other day at the corner store. The girl grew up, that’s for sure.

“Why was Elizabeth in the hospital?” Ziva asked.

“You’d have to ask her that. I’ll give you directions.” Tony and Ziva went with the older woman while Gibbs noticed the Sheriff’s darkened glance.

“Something wrong?”

“That Jenny, when she left Elizabeth ten years, no one could understand it. Elizabeth never said what she was up to, and they keep in touch. I thought for sure she’d gotten rid of Jenny as a friend.”

“Jenny a bad character?”

“Robert! I told you not to be dissing her; that girl can still kick your ass!” The older woman scolded coming out of the office. “Don’t you listen to him! He’s still sore that Jenny turned him down when they were in high school. Jenny made something of herself, she always wanted Elizabeth to do the same. She’s a good girl that Jenny.” Gibbs led his team out and thought back to the Jenny he knew. She sure hadn’t acted like the Jenny he knew when he’d last seen her, and she still wasn’t answering her phone. Not that he was worried. 

* * *

They had decided on a detour before they went to the address listed. They would stop by the police station and then the local clinic to see if anyone remembered why Elizabeth had been in the hospital in the week before Earl’s death. Gibbs, however, was starting to wonder if perhaps the wife was responsible. She certainly had everyone fooled enough,  _ and it’s not like it wouldn’t be the first time _ , he thought, irritated. Tony went across to the law office to pull the divorce file as Gibbs and Ziva entered the clinic.

“We were wondering if you could answer a few questions for us?” Ziva asked a passing nurse. The nurse glanced them over but blinked twice as she noticed the insignia on the jackets.

“Anything for NCIS,” the nurse replied. Gibbs and Ziva were slightly startled; most people didn’t want to talk to them. 

“We’d like to ask you about Elizabeth Massie,” Gibbs began.

“Oh, Elizabeth! Is she alright?”  
“Her husband was found murdered.”  
“Oh Earl, he finally turned up? Never did like him, who killed him?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Ziva answered. “Can you remember anything about her stay here ten years ago?”

“Sure, Jenny came in, first time I’d seen her since graduation. Girl sure did look good,” the nurse drifted off. “But anyway, those two were inseparable in high school; I wasn’t surprised Jenny came in. They talked for a long time, and Jenny shattered a couple of coffee cups, which was unusual, girl-hated coffee when we were in high school. I think Elizabeth told her who attacked her, but Jenny never mentioned it. Elizabeth convinced her to go back home a week after Earl went missing, I thought perhaps there was trouble in the friendship, but all she ever said was that Jenny was needed elsewhere and that she wasn’t injured too badly, and she wasn’t worried that Earl wouldn’t be found. The man did like to drink a bit,” the nurse explained. Ziva nodded in understanding, Gibbs however, didn’t like it. He wanted to speak to this Jenny character, but first, it would be nice to talk to his Jenny.  _ She’s not yours _ , a voice reminded, and he squashed it as he hit the speed dial, again it went to voicemail. She was ignoring the calls. 

* * *

Jenny hit ignore for the fifth time that day as the phone rang and the caller id read Gibbs. She sighed this time. She hoped it wasn’t something completely drastic, but it was his cell phone; if he’d needed her, Cynthia would have called. She opened the door to the hallway and went down in the kitchen, looking it over with a faint smile while spotting her friend by the sink. 

“Lizzie-la,” she called out sweetly.

“Oh J-la, I just…” the tears started.

“Relax, Lizzie, no one is ever going to know. I promise,” Jenny vowed. She hated to see her friend in tears. She had remembered the time when she had sworn that she would never again see her best friend in pain. 

_ She ran into the hospital, and a nurse pointed her in the right direction. She immediately entered the room and slid onto the bed, wrapping her arms around her best friend. Lizzie looked surprised to see her, but she shushed her protest and gently ran a finger over her friend’s swollen black eye and the cut on her cheek.  _

_“Oh, Lizzie, what did he do to you?”_ _  
__“Jenny, you…”_

_ “Shush, it was Earl, that good for nothing son of a bitch,” Jenny guessed.  _

_ “Oh Jenny, you don’t have to…I’m sure your busy, what with that job and…” _

_ “Shh…we don’t need to talk about me. Let’s talk about you; I thought you were going to file for divorce?” _

_ “I did.” Jenny pieced together the rest of the puzzle. _

_“Lizzie-la, I’m sorry, why don’t you stay with me in DC? You could stay at my house. I won’t be there for a while. I’m being sent to Europe; you could start over.”_ _  
__“Jenny, this is my life; I’m not like you. Not adventurous or daring or…”_

_ “I am neither, and you know it.” _

_“Jenny, I can’t leave this life.”_ _  
__“Okay…I could arrest him?” Jenny suggested._

_ “Or kill him.” _

_ “I could do that too,” She answered. _

_ “J-la, I was kidding.” _

_“Were you?” Hatred flashed into Lizzie’s eyes, and Jenny knew she would do anything to protect her friend. “I can help you; no one will ever know.”_ _  
__“Jenny, we’re talking about murder!”_ _  
__“I shot a suspect the other day; I killed him on my first shot; I can do it, Lizzie.”_

_ “Guns are messy.” _

_“Poison?”_ _  
__“Traceable,” Lizzie reminded. “But he is fond of alcohol. He’ll pass out…”_

_ “Dad used to keep a tarp in the shed.” _

_ “Still there.” _

_ “The trunk’s big enough.” _

_ “What would we do with the body?” Lizzie asked. _

_ “The lake.” _

_ “I could convince him to go on a picnic with me, a starting over point.” _

_ “I’ll be right beside you.” _

She remembered what they had done. They both did, but neither was incredibly sorry about it. Jenny felt she was justified in protecting her friend, Lizzie felt free. Jenny also knew there was no way they would get caught. 

* * *

She had never told anyone where she’d been during her week off, and then she’d been on a plane to Europe.  _ And that ended so well _ , a voice chided. She ignored it as she thought that the one person who might even suspect she was guilty was safe in her office in DC. 

“How’s your Jethro?” Lizzie asked as they each opened a beer bottle. 

“He’s not mine, and I wouldn’t know.”  
“You might if you answered your phone,” Lizzie teased.

“Hey, I answer my phone when it’s important!” Jenny countered laughingly, but her mind floated back to the newest phone between them. 

_ “Shepard.” _

_ “Jenny, it’s…” _

_“Lizzie!” Jenny was genuinely excited to hear from her best friend and settled back in her chair and prayed Gibbs didn’t decide to interrupt. “How are you?”_ _  
__“Jenny, there’s…” Jenny could pick up on her friend’s distress; she hadn’t sound that scared since she had called to say she was in the hospital nearly ten years ago._

_“Lizzie, what’s happened?”_ _  
__“A body was recovered from the lake; it’s him.”_

_ “Oh, Lizzie,” she sighed and glanced around her office. She couldn’t have this conversation here. “Lizzie, I’m catching the next plane down.” _

_ “J-la, you don’t have to. I know you’re busy…” _

_ “Never too busy for you, Lizzie-la,” Jenny assured. “I’ll call you as soon as I know my information.” _

_ “See you soon.” Jenny hung up and immediately left her office, spotting Gibbs coming up the stairs.  _

_ “Jethro!” He looked startled and geared up for some sort of a fight, and so she beat him to the punch. “I need you to be the acting director for a…week, at least.” _

_ “Some last-minute conference, Director?” he asked, but Jenny was already heading back to her office. _

_ “It’s personal, Jethro. Thank you for taking over,” she said, grabbing her purse and coat and high tailing it out of there. She had been surprised he hadn’t followed her, but he had called her. _

_“Where’s the fire?”_ _  
__“Look, things are just…I’ll tell you when I get back, alright? Now I won’t have email, but I’ll answer my phone if I can get service. Don’t call unless there’s a terrorist attack.” She’d hung up on him and got on a plane to her best friend._

“I still can’t believe you just dropped everything in his lap.”

“He can handle it,” Jenny remarked. “And can we not talk about him, please?” She did not need her best friend and her heart ganging up on her.

“Sure, we won’t mention another word about him, but I do wonder how you expect that to happen when you’re the one who usually starts the conversations,” Lizzie taunted. 

“Lizzie!” Jenny replied in mock horror. A knock interrupted her friend’s comeback, and she felt strange, like her stomach had just flipped or something, but ignored it. “It’s just the cops.”

“I should get the door.”

“I’ll get it, Robert still has a crush on me,” Jenny teased softly, trying to ease her friend’s worry.  Jenny went to the door, composing herself and allowing her facial expression to reflect the Director she was. She knew without a doubt no one would figure it out. They just weren’t smart enough, and no one except Lizzie knew what she was capable of. She plastered a smile on her face, which fell the second she opened the door. “Jethro!”

* * *

Gibbs had pulled up to the older home. He noticed it was still in well-kept condition and momentarily thought that Jenny might like a house like that before quickly banishing it.  _ Out of sight, out of mind _ , he repeated to himself.  _ What a load of shit _ . He went up, opting to knock on the door; he could hear a faint voice inside and felt something sort of like his stomach flipping, and his gut sure was acting up, but he ignored both for the moment. 

“DiNozzo, no flirting,” he warned softly. And the door opened to a very familiar face.

“Jethro!” He was about as surprised to see her as to see what she was dressed in.

“Jen…” He responded, trying to figure out what she was doing here, dressed like that.

“Director!” Came the combined gasp of Tony and Ziva. 

“Jen…”

“You tracked me all the way down here,” she accused. 

“Actually, I’m a little more concerned with the fact that your in the widow of a sailor’s house.”

“Sailor?” She questioned, looking very confused.

“Earl Massie worked on the base.”

“Earl was a sailor?” She choked on that one.  _ Well, that explains NCIS.  _

“J-la, who’s at the door?” Jenny was not about to answer that and simply stepped to the side, giving Lizzie an excellent view of the silver-haired man with bright blue eyes and his two agents. She also didn’t miss the yellow NCIS patch. Even if she hadn’t seen a photo, she would have no trouble placing the look hidden in her best friend’s eye.  _ So I finally get to meet Jethro _ . “You’re agents?”

“Apparently, Earl was working for the Naval base,” she drifted off.

“I didn’t know that but do come in. Jenny, just because they are your agents doesn’t mean you get to tell them what to do in my house,” Lizzie scolded and noticed the smirk spread across Gibbs’ face till she caught Jenny’s glare. “Now come in and make yourselves at home. I’ll just grab some lemonade.” Jenny looked about ready to bolt anyway.

“Uh, I’ll do that. I’m sure they must want to ask you about Earl,” Jenny replied, meeting her friend’s eye and silently communicating that all would be well. 

“Excellent,” Lizzie replied. She held the door as she noticed Jenny give one more glare at Gibbs before moving toward the kitchen; she didn’t miss the way Gibbs’ eyes followed. “Well, have a seat, and ask away.”

“You don’t seem to particularly torn up about your husband,” Tony hinted.

“Well, I’ve had ten years to mourn him. I just assumed we’d never know, but a suicide that’s just terrible.”

“You were trying to divorce him,” Gibbs reminded. “He didn’t want that to happen.”

“Men don’t typically want to lose what they perceive as theirs. Have you ever been divorced, Agent Gibbs?” She could hear the clattering of cups and swore Jenny cursed. 

“Multiple times.”  
“Well then, you know, that sometimes you just have to do what’s best for you,” Lizzie answered honestly and tried to keep her composure. She had no idea that she had just offered her friend up on a platter. _Jenny coached her_ , Gibbs concluded. _That is most defiantly one of her lines_ , he thought somewhat angrily. Jenny entered rather gracefully and placed the tray down; Gibbs was impressed she hadn’t dropped it. He watched her sit down on the arm of the chair her friend was in. He also noticed that she directed all her attention to her friend. She hadn’t met his eyes once. 

“DiNozzo, Ziva, you two finish talking with Ms. Elizabeth,” Gibbs ordered. He got up and moved toward what appeared to be the kitchen, he had expected Jenny would follow, but she didn’t. “Jen…”

“What, Jethro?”

“A word.” He could see her struggle. Whatever she was hiding, she didn’t want to leave her friend to face it alone.

“Jenny, it’s alright; I’m sure you have work to talk about. I’ll be fine here with Agent DiNozzo and Officer David,” Lizzie said, nodding in Gibbs’ direction. She glared once at DiNozzo and Ziva, knowing they were at least somewhat afraid of her before she caught up and followed Gibbs into the kitchen. 

“So you two know each other a long time.”

“Jethro, I won’t insult your intelligence, so don’t insult mine. Just ask me what you want and get over with it,” she countered.

“Where were you ten years ago?”  
“On a plane to Europe, with you.” She answered.

“When Earl was murdered,” he countered. She didn’t respond. “Jenny, if you don’t think I’ll look up that week and see if it matches to the time he died, then you don’t know me at all.”

“Actually, I thought you would have already known when you knew I was her best friend. Yes, I was here; I stayed with Lizzie till she told me to go back to work. She was in the hospital.”

“This house belonged to you,” he informed.

“Yes, it did, we lived here, my father had the townhouse. I signed it over to Lizzie after he died. She took much better care of it, and it was a wedding gift, so to speak.”

“You weren’t at her wedding.” He stated, he could hear the regret in her voice.

“I was with my father. Two weeks later, he died.”

“And yet Lizzie didn’t come to you.”

“She tried. We talked on the phone a lot. She was she helped temper the rage,” Jenny explained, glancing into the room at her blonde friend. 

“And we all know how difficult that can be,” she heard him mutter. She stepped around him, going to the sink and finishing the dishes that were resting there. “What did you think of Earl?”

“I’m not surprised he’s dead,” she answered honestly, thankful her back was to him. 

“You don’t sound very heartbroken.”

“He wasn’t my husband.”

“Your friend doesn’t sound too broken up either. She sounds coached,” he taunted, knowing that would get a rise out of her, and it did. He watched her straighten and turn back toward him for a second, her eyes flashing with some emotions that were too fast to identify, but one stayed, disappointed. He couldn’t figure out why.

“You go in there and treat her like some murder suspect, and you’re not the man I knew,” she replied forcefully. “She was not responsible for his death; if someone killed the bastard, they should be awarded a medal.” She paused and turned her head to meet his eyes, making sure he understood. “ Just like whoever killed a certain drug lord should be given a medal to.”

“How are drug lords connected to this?” He inquired, admittedly not so much as blinking as he acknowledged the fact that she wouldn’t be pulling that card if she seriously didn’t think her friend was innocent. She arched her eyebrow and took the acceptance for what it was, but she knew he would still needle her friend. She turned back to the dishes and heard his hand on the door handle. She took in a deep breath and realized she could very quickly be giving all of the facts away if she said this, but she needed to stop his gut in its tracks. 

“Jethro, do you remember what happened in the Czech Republic?” She asked. She could feel the tension descend as it always did when they brought up their past. 

“You took a round to the thigh.” She rolled her eyes, glad he couldn’t see the gesture.

“Before that.” She knew he had turned back to face her and was trying to work out a time that would have been labeled as not one of their fonder memories. They had been separated running through a town; he had found her eventually, but not after she had endured quite the beating. He had shot every one of the people in the room holding her captive.

_ “Jethro, stop!” She ordered, her hands taking hold of his. She had never seen him this angry before. “I’m fine; I’m safe.” She whispered into his ear, tentatively wrapping her arms around him. He dropped his gun and held her tighter, thanking every holy item that she was safe. He was never going to let her out of his sight again. He pulled back, afraid he was hurting her, and noticed her a very prominent black eye. He was proud that she had given as good as she’d got, but he was still worried. She’d been outnumbered, and he hadn’t been there to protect her.  _

_ “We have to go. Can you walk?” He asked softly. As soon as they found a safe place, he would hold her and never let go.  _

_ “I’m fine, let’s go,” She followed him out of the underground cellar and into the fading daylight. They’d stayed off the radar as much as they could and finally found a small inn just outside the town, they had barely enough, but the people took pity on them and gave them a small room with a bed and bathroom. He had meticulously cleaned all her wounds and placed kisses over them before tucking her into bed and curling up alongside her holding her tight in his arms, his gun within reach.  _

_ “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you,” he promised. “Again.” He added somewhat sadly, and she knew he was blaming himself. _

_ “Not your fault Jethro,” she assured. “I’m fine. I’m safe.” _

_ “I would kill anyone who harmed you,” he swore, and she knew he meant it but chose not to think about it, instead of kissing him softly.  _

“Yea,” he shrugged after letting the memory leave him. He couldn’t quite figure out how this fits into any of it.

“You remember what you told me?” she questioned. 

“Yea,” he answered with a shrug. This wasn’t exactly something they talked about or had ever talked about again. He’d admit to seeing red when he’d seen her bruised face. Things had just happened after that. He was also pretty sure she didn’t know about the two guards he had killed on the way to find her. 

“Good, now you can stop treating Lizzie like a suspect,” she responded, and he glanced at her and peaked out into the living room. He came up to stand alongside her as she finished rinsing the last dish. 

“So Earl…”

“As I said, whoever killed him, good for them,” she repeated, and he caught it. He was glad he had come to stand alongside her right side because now he was almost positive who had killed Earl. His phone rang, and he answered, seeing it was Ducky. 

“Jethro?”

“Yea, Duck, what is it?”

“Well, I found our cause of death; someone snapped his neck.” Gibbs looked over at Jenny. She was too small; sure, he knew she was strong, but there was no way in hell she could have taken down someone twice her weight without help, and so he glanced into the living room and looked Lizzie over.  _ She was looking more and more guilty _ . 

“Sure it wasn’t from the fall?”

“Well, it might have been, the man did drink enough to warrant owning a liquor store, or so McGee has determined from the locals,” Ducky explained. “But the fascinating thing is that his neck was only half snapped, most defiantly painful, and more than likely done purposefully.”

“Say that again, Duck,” Gibbs requested, and the older man repeated himself, but Gibbs barely listened as he watched Jenny dry the dishes. 

_ “Jethro, this is ridiculous. I’m not stupid; I’m not going to bet you I could win. You were a marine, for crying out loud,” she protested as he led her down to the ring. _

_ “There’s no such thing as an ex-marine.” _

_ “So I’ve heard,” she sighed.  _

_“C’mon, Jen. If you beat me, I’ll buy dinner.”_ _  
__“I broke the case. You should buy me dinner anyway,” she teased. Since they had been told they would soon be going undercover together, they slowly approached the line of couplehood. There was no use in denying that they were attracted to each other; they would soon be together for who knew how long._

_ “Jen, come on, you’re going to have to learn anyway.” _

_ “Fine, Jethro,” she sighed dramatically. Their fight had begun, and he was surprised at how good she was. She was not just a physical distraction but mental as well. She could preempt every one of his strikes, for all the talk of no hand-to-hand, she was pretty good. She knocked him to the ground by taking out his feet. “There, so now you owe me two dinners.” _

_ “You lied.” _

_ “Convinced you, did I? Guess I pass the Rule Eight test as well,” she remarked.  _

_ “Cute, very cute. But you’ve barely incapacitated the guy; what if he was not so easily distracted.” _

_ “Well, I wouldn’t want to kill him; he’d be useful as a suspect.”  _

_ “So you only snap his neck halfway, very painful, very effective.” He had taught her how on a dummy, and she’d picked up fast and was very good at it.  _

“Thanks, Duck; I’ll be in touch.” He took one step toward Jenny when he heard Tony’s voice from the other room. 

“Boss, another car just pulled up.”

“Oh, it’s just Robbie,” Lizzie said. “Jenny, would you get the door, please?” Jenny appeared in the hallway, Gibbs following. She opened the door to meet the Sheriff and smiled pleasantly, knowing without looking that Gibbs was glaring over her shoulder. 

“Robbie, how nice to see you again.”,

“Jenny, and Agent Gibbs…” he looked between the two, looking momentarily puzzled, but she didn’t miss his glance to her left hand.  _ Great, another rumor to be dealt with _ , she sighed. 

“Won’t you come in Robbie, Lizzie’s in the living room,” Jenny said, stepping aside. Robbie entered the house and noticed that Gibbs once again didn’t move from Jenny’s side.

“I didn’t know you were in town, Jenny.”

“Oh, only for a little while, to help out Lizzie,” Jenny answered. 

“We still haven’t heard what it is that keeps you away from us all the time,” he reminded. Gibbs began to answer; Jenny clamped her hand over his mouth.

“It’s a busy job, nothing special, just lots of traveling,” she replied. He entered the living room and went straight over to Lizzie, tipping his hat and glancing at DiNozzo before falling into conversation with her friend. 

“Nothing special,” Gibbs repeated. “Sure, if you don’t count being the Director of a Federal Agency, nothing special.”

“Shut up Jethro, no one down here knows that, no one except Lizzie.”

“Yea, they seem to think you were Prom Queen or something.” She flashed a half-smile that he knew meant trouble.

“Maybe I was,” she countered before her face lost its smile as she heard Ziva mention the word Director gesturing in their direction. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he heard her mutter before she answered Ziva. “Yes, well, I’m sure Director Gibbs as the answer for that.” She entered the room, reclaiming her spot on the armrest next to Lizzie and glaring at Ziva and Tony. 

“Well, I was just saying that I think Lizzie should be able to pay her respects at her husband’s last resting place if that’s acceptable?”

“Oh sure, we’ll go up with her.”

“Well, Robbie, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Lizzie replied, clearly not at ease with the idea. 

“Perhaps after jam season,” Jenny suggested taking her friend’s hand in what was meant as a comforting motion but was an act.

“Oh, that’s right,” Robbie agreed. “Lizzie here makes the best jam this side of the Mason-Dixie line.”

“Jam?” Ziva questioned.

“Oh, it’s like jelly,” Jenny answered. “But more like…what’s the word…” she faded off thinking. “That stuff you put on matzo.”

“Ah, oh, that it is good,” Ziva agreed, understanding what her friend was talking about. Robbie looked at Jenny oddly for a minute. 

“Well, Jethro, I know it’s a long drive back to DC and…” Jenny began trying to get the team out. Lizzie, however, was determined to knock some sense into her best friend’s head.

“Oh Jenny, don’t be ridiculous; they can’t go back tonight. Why don’t you all take me up to this lake, and you’re all more than welcome to stay here,” Lizzie said, enjoying her friend’s death glare, and the suggestion she noted sat well with Gibbs, who quickly moved back to Jenny’s side, glaring briefly at Robbie.  _ Poor boy, _ she sighed. She knew the kid never had a chance; Jenny needed a man who was her equal,  _ a man like Gibbs _ . 

Of course, Gibbs led his team out to the cars, Robbie following, saying he could lead the way, and if they need more space in the vehicles, he could take someone. Gibbs declined, saying Jenny would drive her car, and Lizzie knew she’d endure a ride back to town with Robbie if it left Jenny and Gibbs alone in the car. She noticed Tony and Ziva exchange glances as they watched them together and knew that they two would make every effort to stay out of the firing zone. Jenny and Lizzie grabbed their coats and put them on; they were just heading out the door when Jenny stopped her.

“What are you doing?”  
“What I do best,” Lizzie answered.

“Matchmaking Lizzie is for high school!”

“Like you needed help catching a boy in high school, now it seems you do.”  
“Lizzie, you have no idea what you’re doing!” The two women got in the car, Jenny driving and tailing the car Gibbs was in. “He’s going to find out.”  
“Find out what? That you love him, good.”

“You know, perhaps I should be glad he would never believe it, even if I said it, but that’s not what he’s going to find out.”

“Jenny, you told me no one could ever figure it out; it was pure genius.”

“Of course I never thought anyone would figure out, I didn’t think Leroy Jethro Gibbs would be investigating.”

“He knows your tell,” Lizzie concluded, finally understanding the gravity of everything.

“Yes, he does.”

“Jenny, you were his partner, now you’re his boss, don’t you have anything against him?”

“Not nearly as much as he has against me.”

“Nothing?”

“One thing I could never use, the other, he could easily deny, and it would be impossible for me to prove.”

“And what he has against you?”

“Paris.”

“He was sort of involved in that.”

“He covered for me when I shot that guy in the shootout; he never told anyone about the boat, or at least no one who cared, he could easily reveal who I am to the guys who think only he’s responsible for putting them away, when it was me, and have I left anything out? Oh yes, having an affair.”

“Jenny, he wouldn’t…”

“I use any of what I have against him, and my career is done. Hell, I wouldn’t have had a career if it weren’t for him.”

“That can’t sit well with you,” Lizzie commented. “But that’s not what’s bothering you the most.”

“Lizzie.”

“What’s bothering you is that you’re afraid he’s going to think less of you, that he’d be disappointed in you, which is understandable.” She finished as they pulled up near the lake. The two sat back a moment, watching the scenery. “We never really figured out the what if clause, did we?”

“I’ll take the fall,” Jenny said, looking at her friend’s form and being reminded of her promise to herself. 

“J-la…”

“No. If it happens, act surprised, act shocked and devastated, act betrayed, he’ll buy that,” Jenny explained. 

“Jenny, you’re…”

“He knows how relentless I can be. I almost killed La Grenouille in my house; he wouldn’t think it too far a stretch to think I would murder my best friend’s husband to protect her.”

“Will he protect you?”

“If I were him, I wouldn’t.” 

* * *

She got out of the car and watched as Lizzie did the same. Robbie came over and began to escort Lizzie down the path, Tony and Ziva following. Jenny glanced briefly at Gibbs and turned to follow. She felt the clasp of metal around her wrist and froze. 

“Not in front of her,” she pleaded softly. She felt him push her ahead and off the path toward the edge, where she knew there was an overhang. He spun her around to face him, and she found that he had clasped the other half of the cuffs around one of his wrists. 

“A body of water is the perfect place to dump a body,” he recited, meeting her eyes, and she knew she had at one point said that to him. “If I dredge the marina where the frog’s boat is, am I going to find his body?” She was surprised at his question, surprised that he was simply asking for that clarification. She met his eyes, so he wouldn’t have to force her.

“If it is, I didn’t put it there.” He watched her; not one of her eyes moved, not even the faintest of twitches. 

“If I tell Tony to arrest her…”

“I can point out that you tampered with evidence during a murder investigation, something I’m sure not even Ducky suspects, even though the odds of Abby getting a match are…astronomical,” she watched the surprise on his face. “But I’m not going to because you’re not going to arrest her. You’re going to arrest me.”

“You’d take the fall…” He faded off, looking at her.

“Lizzie didn’t snap his neck. I did that… she just helped with the cleanup,” Jenny confessed.

“I taught you how to do that,” he reminded.

“I know,” she replied, glancing down at the forest floor. “To be honest, I thought I’d gotten away with it, never really thought the one person who could figure it out would ever stumble across it, and even then, I certainly didn’t expect the pieces to be connected.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He questioned, tilting her head up to meet her green eyes. 

“Jethro, we’d been partners for four months…I didn’t know you well enough,” she said. 

“And after…”

“I can safely say I never lose sleep at night because of it,” she answered, and he could tell just how little thought she’d given it in the past ten years. “He had to die, Jethro…if you’d seen her, in the hospital, so helpless…here I was off doing whatever the hell I pleased, and my best friend was miserable.”

“You couldn’t have…”

“None of my relationships ever go well; she’s the only one I haven’t screwed up with. I couldn’t let her be miserable. I tried to get her to come with me back to DC. She could have stayed at my house, started a new life, but she said this was her life. So I fixed it so she would be safe while I was away.”

“What happened?”

“She invited him for dinner. I waited in the kitchen; she let him drink as much as he wanted. He finally passed out, and we carried him to the car in the tarp. We were going just to dump him and make it look like a suicide drowning,” she drifted off, glancing over the cliff’s edge. “She went to grab some stones to load his pockets with. He was waking up; I saw red Jethro; I just…I bent down and snapped his neck partway. I wanted him to suffer the way he’d made her suffer. She came back, and we loaded the pockets, wrapped him in the tarp, and tossed him.”

“She didn’t know you’d snapped his neck?”

“Not till after and even then not directly. She could deny it legitimately.” She finally lost her strength and slid down the tree trunk to the ground where she sat. Her movement and forced him to follow, forgetting for the second they were attached. She glanced over apologetically but turned away just as his eyes met hers. He sat beside her toying with the idea of wrapping his arms around her.

“How did you know about the drug lord?” He asked, not denying it. She looked over at him and glanced back toward the water.

“Brain Dempsey.”

“The guy who kidnapped you?” He questioned incredulously. “How does that have anything to do with…anything?”

“He’s dead, Jethro; you shot him.”  
“Because he had a gun to your head.”

“Uh-huh, and I wasn’t even a wife,” she remarked. 

“So that’s how you jumped from one conclusion to another,” he tried to follow the thought process, but even to him, it was a bit convoluted. 

“Not exactly; I made a few stops along the way.”

“Like?” 

“Ari. Those men in the Czech Republic. It wasn’t tough to jump to that; it’s what I would have done.” 

“But you didn’t.”  
“If La Grenouille is still alive, I will kill him, Jethro. I won’t hesitate this time,” she stated. Gibbs opened his mouth to say something but was stopped.

“Hey Boss, you coming?” DiNozzo’s voice carried through the woods.

“We’re coming,” he snapped back and heard Ziva scolding Tony and reminding him of Rule 38. Jenny listened to the rule and glanced at Gibbs.

“Rule 38…I don’t remember that one.”

“It never applied to you,” he answered, standing up and pulling her to her feet. He unclasped the handcuffs and put them away. She seemed somewhat surprised. “Shall we?” He led her back to the path, and they began to head in the direction Tony’s voice had come from. 

“Jethro, there you are!” Ducky’s voice called from behind them. Ducky was standing in the path with McGee beside him.

“Ducky.”

“Director, what a surprise,” Ducky looked from Gibbs to Jenny, trying to figure out how the redhead had gotten there with no one mentioning it. 

“Jethro, if Ducky and McGee are here, whose running my agency?”

“Abby,” he answered as he walked back toward Ducky. “What’s up, Ducky?”  
“Well, Jethro, based on my findings, I would have to conclude that someone probably smaller than our victim is responsible for his death, perhaps the wife?”

“Is it possible it was an accident, the fall from the cliff?”

“The tarp Jethro indicates murder.”  
“And if he was just wrapped in it, maybe to sleep or something...” Gibbs led Ducky.

“Possibly, yes, then I suppose it’s possible that it was an accident.”

“Good, we’ve found no indication of foul play then,” Gibbs informed. 

“Well, then I shall rule it accidental suicide by drowning,” Ducky agreed, looking from Gibbs to Jenny, wondering what was going on there., 

“I’ll go break the news to Lizzie,” Jenny said, stepping away from Gibbs and heading off down the trail. She needed to be far away from him at that moment. He had covered for her, protected her when she most definitely didn’t deserve it;  _ maybe he did think I would betray him. _ She had done lots of things to Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but she had never betrayed him. She continued down the path, finally coming to the opening at the end, and found Lizzie standing at the edge of the dock, Robbie, Tony, and Ziva waiting at the beginning.

“She wanted a moment to say goodbye,” Robbie informed while Tony and Ziva rolled their eyes. They didn’t think she was a grieving widow but were following Gibbs’ lead on this one. Jenny nodded to them and watched Ziva take a step to follow her. She glanced back and shook her head, Ziva stepped back to Tony’s side, but her eyes never left her friend’s form. Jenny strolled on the dock and out to the edge to her friend’s side. 

“It’s over,” she said softly. “Ducky is going to rule the death an accidental suicide by drowning.”

“There was nothing accidental about the tarp.”

“He was probably sleeping in it, rolled off the edge, snapped his neck, ended up in the water,” Jenny explained.

“That’s not the way it happened,” Lizzie reminded.

“No, it’s not.”

“You snapped his neck, Jenny.” 

“You already suspected that,” Jenny replied. She wrapped her arm around her friend’s shoulder, and they tilted their heads together. “He lied for me.”

“In the interest of friendship, I shall resist from saying I told you so.”

“Lizzie,” Jenny sighed exasperatedly. Lizzie smiled in return, and they both stood watching the stillness of the lake. 

Gibbs had come to the edge of the path and could see part of his team waiting at the beginning of the dock and Jenny and Lizzie at the end. He had no doubt she was telling her friend what had happened; he watched McGee head down to Tony and Ziva, no doubt repeating everything he had seen and heard to his ‘older siblings.’ Ducky stepped alongside him, and he could listen to his friend heave a sigh.

“Something wrong, Duck?”

“What did she do this time?” Ducky inquired, skipping the pleasantries.

“Who? Ziva?”

“Jennifer.” Gibbs was momentarily stunned by the use of her name but said nothing. “Jethro, the girl is hardly a junior agent now.”

“Of which she never ceases to remind me.”

“Jethro, all jokes aside. What does she have to do with this?”

“What makes you think she’s involved?”  
“You’re covering for her, just like that time she shot that guy…”

“She didn’t shoot anyone,” Gibbs answered sternly. Ducky nodded in agreement but refused to let the matter drop. 

“Jethro, she’s not your partner anymore; rule one doesn’t apply.” 

“She was my partner ten years ago; rule one applied then.”

“You’re protecting her because ten years ago, she did something…foolish?”

“Ducky…”

“What does she have on you?”

“Nothing,” he replied, and he knew it to be true. Even if she knew the truth, she couldn’t

prove it, not beyond a reasonable doubt. As he thought about it, he realized that was true for this as well. She could have lied during the confession; there was no way he could prove she was ultimately responsible for Earl Massie’s death. For some reason that brought pride to his heart, she’d learned well. 

“You can’t prove she did it, can you?”

“Neither can you, Duck, you just told me it could be accidental,” Gibbs reminded. His friend sighed again. 

“You would think with all this protecting you two do of each other; you’d just realize that you’re protecting yourselves.”

“How so, Ducky?”

“Well, you’re protecting her because she has your heart, she’s protecting you because you have hers… Jethro, any junior agent, could figure it out if they thought about it long enough, but of course, they don’t know she’s protecting you, and you’re rarely so obvious that you’re protecting her, so it could just be conjecture on my part.” 

“Ducky…” Gibbs trailed off, glancing at the docks again and noticing the Sheriff’s frequent glances toward Jenny. 

“You should have just said she was your wife,” Ducky commented upon noticing Gibbs’ line of vision. Gibbs smirked at that and walked down toward the dock, past the puppy dog Sheriff.  _ No wonder Jenny always said if she wanted someone to follow her around, she’d get a dog. _ He walked straight out on the dock.

“Hey Boss, you should be careful…”

“DiNozzo shut it,” he snapped back. 

“But Gibbs!” Ziva protested.

“Boss, you really should…” McGee faded off. Jenny and Lizzie had turned to find Gibbs almost with arms distance.

“Jethro, you shouldn’t…” She heard the crack in the wood and watched as the boards fell out, and Gibbs ended up in the water. 

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs shouted when he came up.

“I tried to tell you, Boss,” Tony replied as he came running up. 

“Jethro, it would be easier if you just swam under and came up at the edge. There’s a ladder,” Jenny explained. 

“Or you could just give me a hand.” She sighed. She and Lizzie were closer to him than Tony, Ziva, and McGee, but she didn’t trust the gleam in his eye. 

“Come on, Jenny, you don’t want your agent getting pneumonia,” Lizzie encouraged. 

“You never could things the easy way,” Jenny remarked as she held out her hand. Lizzie held onto her but let go just as Gibbs tugged. The magnitude and direction of the velocity ended with Jenny in the water right alongside Gibbs. Of course, the team fell silent, or Tony, McGee, and Robbie fell silent. Ducky, Ziva, and Lizzie laughed. “Lizzie!”

“Sorry Jenny, you just slipped. You were probably right on the ladder thing,” Lizzie spurted out in between her laughter. Jenny splashed the water at her friend before ducking under and swimming under the dock. She popped up on the other side and looked around for Gibbs. Chances were if he was out of sight, it was terrible for her. 

“Where’s Gibbs?” She asked the rest of the team. They pointed to the caved-in porting they’d just been in. ,

“You gonna tell me how to get out of here?” She heard him say. 

“Ridiculous,” she muttered, ducking back under and carefully swimming under the dock. She opened her eyes to the murky depths and found him treading water. She swam a little deeper taking hold and pulling down, he went under but wasn’t fast enough to catch her, and she came to the surface, followed by him moments later. He glared at her, but she simply smiled innocently.

“Jenny, you don’t think they’re still water snakes do you?” Lizzie inquired.

“Snakes?” Jenny coughed. She felt something slide across the small of her back and kicked out instinctively. The loud grunt told her she’d gotten her target. 

“Jen…aim.” He grunted. She swam closer and met his eyes. 

“Do that again, and I’ll aim lower,” she whispered. “Now, are you coming or not?” 

“Sure,” he replied, swimming alongside her. He watched his team out of the corner of his eye and noticed DiNozzo and McGee with the camera. “Ziva!”

“On it, Gibbs.” She whacked both of them, and the camera hit the ground. 

“Zee-vah!” Tony whined. 

“DiNozzo, don’t make me drag you in here!” 

“Boss…” Tony’s protest was a mixture of ‘not me’ and ‘please don’t be hurt.’ “Hey Director, do you think if Gibbs’ needs CPR again…”  
“Oh no, Tony,”; Tony replied, treading the water. “You enjoyed it so much the last time; I wouldn’t want to take away the pleasure.” 

“And what if you need CPR?” Gibbs countered.

“Planning on drowning me?”

“No, but seriously…”

“Ziva can do it; Tony will be too busy reviving you.” 

“Hey, Ziva, I’ll trade you?” Tony begged. 

“Ziva!”

“On it, Gibbs,” She whacked Tony upside the head. 

“So you ready?” Jenny asked Gibbs. 

“I’m kinda enjoying it.”

“Well, I’m cold, so let’s go, or I can leave you here.”

“Aww, c’mon, you love it.”

“Honestly, I’d rather be in bed.”

“That can be arranged,” Gibbs replied quietly.

“Asleep!” She clarified. 

“You never could pace yourself.” She dunked him, now the team watched on in amusement, they hadn’t heard the conversation, but they were betting it had been good, mostly if Ducky was laughing so hard. Jenny had dunked him and immediately let go as she felt two hands grab her waist and tug. She went under as well and kicked as hard as she good to be back at the surface. Both she and Gibbs came up spurting water.

“Children, if you’re quite finished,” Ducky chastised. Jenny glared at Gibbs and dove under the water; Gibbs followed her, his eyes stinging as the water hit them. He followed Jenny through the opening at the bottom. She was hovering in the water above him waiting, and he swam up to her, and they broke the surface on the other side. He followed as Jenny swam to the edge and found that the ladder had disintegrated. 

“Lizzie!”

“Jenny, you may as well swim to the shallows,” Lizzie answered.

“But…”

“Oh, Tony and McGee helped me over the hole.”

“DiNozzo, what did we talk about?” Gibbs demanded. He heard the telltale slap as the younger man hit himself. 

“Jethro, if he has a concussion one of these days, I’m blaming you,” Jenny sighed as she pushed off the dock and started swimming toward the shallows. The team had made their way back toward the end of the dock and was waiting; their backs turned to the water. Gibbs took advantage of that and swam alongside Jenny.

“So about that bed…” Jenny turned to stare at him in disbelief. 

“You can sleep on the floor,” she replied, increasing the speed of her strokes, till she felt his hand grab her ankle and pull her to a stop. She tread water as he came alongside her again. 

“Ducky knows.”

“Great, well, I don’t suppose you convinced him that it was accidental.”

“He’s filing it as such.” She nodded. 

“Thank you, Jethro,” she said gratefully and looked back toward the shore, where she could easily make out Lizzie’s grin and Robbie’s glare. 

“So this Robbie kid…” She looked over at Gibbs and blinked as she tried to place the expression on his face.  _ Jealousy, absolutely jealousy.  _

“We went to high school together,” she began as they started swimming back again. “He had a crush on me for three years, I…I wasn’t allowed to date in high school, my father…”

“Don’t feel bad, I would never have let Kelly date. Ever.”

“I hate to point out to you that if my father had enacted that rule, Paris wouldn’t have happened.”

“Good point, but he would have liked me,” Gibbs assured. Jenny privately thought he would have been the only man her father approved of, but she didn’t say so. “So anyway, not allowed to date, so you turned him down like a good girl and…”

“Well, I was on the swim team, and in the 4H club with Lizzie, and FFA and so…”

“Wait, you were on the swim team?” Gibbs inquired. She just shot him a glare that told him to stop picturing whatever it was he was thinking. “Okay, so 4H explains your love for animals…and the FFA, not a surprise.”

“Anyway…” She began again. “Robbie always had a crush on me, and my senior year, Lizzie agreed to go to a dance with him. Mainly because she knew I wouldn’t want to have a date, and she figured she could ditch Robbie and we could bail early because, after graduation, I was going back to DC to stay with my father before I went to college. So I was prom queen, gave my crown over to Lizzie, then we bailed, and I never saw Robbie again, till today. From what I gather, I feel out of his favorites list when I went and made something of myself; he’s under the impression women should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.”

“Now there’s an image,” Gibbs mumbled and felt the water splashed at him. 

“I heard that.”

“So the stiletto heels, business suit, and office with the view he doesn’t like.”

“He thinks I’ve changed, you know he’s a cop, but I can count on one hand the number of dead bodies he’s seen. He just doesn’t get it.”

“And he’s never killed, anyone.” She glanced over at him.

“No, he hasn’t. He has no clue what I do; he just knows he doesn’t like it, and he thinks it’s a bad influence on Lizzie.”

“Is it?”

“Hardly, she keeps me grounded. She sees what I do, knows what I can do, and she’s okay with that. You couldn’t ask for a better friend,” Jenny explained as they reached the shallows. 

“And she’s a matchmaker,” he commented as he watched the blonde woman nudge Ziva in Tony’s direction. Jenny looked over and chuckled.

“Yes, that she is, I’ll deal with it,” she responded, knowing how he felt about a romance between agents. She went to go break it up when he grabbed her arm and held her in the shallows.

“I want to see what happens.”  
“Jethro that’s playing with fire, don’t tell me you can’t see the similarities?” She questioned. 

“They’re different,” he assured. Jenny studied the two and observed them. There was a softness missing, but she knew it would take long to grow.

“For now,” she predicted sadly. She again moved to the shallows, grateful as Lizzie came up to her with a blanket that someone must have gotten from one of the cars. Lizzie wrapped her up and held her close.

“So I left you two out there long enough…” Lizzie trailed off. Jenny met her friend’s eyes and laughed.

“Nothing happened.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I make sure you end up drenched, give him plenty of time and nothing?” Lizzie was in major shock. She had been sure she would have been able to give her friend a good gift in return for taking the fall. 

“Lizzie…” Jenny sighed. 

“Don’t you Lizzie me, you can’t tell me he doesn’t look good drenched?” Lizzie nodded in Gibbs’ direction, and Jenny spotted him, the shirt clinging to his body, and she quickly made sure her eyes hit the ground. The thoughts racing through her head need to be controlled and banished someplace. “Yum. If he wasn’t your guy…”

“Lizzie!” Lizzie smirked again;  _ that was jealousy. _

“Well, if you’re not going to go stake territory, maybe you should stop him from killing poor Robbie with a look,” Lizzie remarked, turning her friend to face the two men. She also noticed the rest of the team standing off on the sidelines, Ducky shaking his head in exasperation as the two men glared at each other. 

“Dr. Mallard, something the matter?” Jenny inquired in her best Director voice as she approached them. 

“Just Gibbs, being Gibbs,” Ducky answered. “Reminds me of when Stephanie was in the office and…”

“Ducky, I get it,” Jenny snapped, hushing the doctor’s comparison. She’d kick herself for this later, but right now, it was time to put this ridiculous territorial pissing match to an end. She was more amused than anything else; if Gibbs seriously thought Robbie might enter her affections, he didn’t know her at all.  _ And it’s not like he gets a say, does he? _ She knew that was a lie too; he always had a vote, mainly because of that small detail that he had managed to take her heart captive and never ransomed it back. 

“Jen is…”

“It’s Jenny,” Robbie corrected, clearly not pleased with the shortening of her name. She had never liked it much either, till Gibbs said it and then…well, that was an entirely different matter.

“Jethro, we should probably head back to town. Change clothes,” She suggested coming to stand beside him; she knew it was vital that she stood closer to him than to Robbie. It would undoubtedly put an end to the match. He turned his head slightly to meet her eyes, and she could see some unnamed emotion fade and a sparkle begin to appear. He slid his arm around her waist, pulling her closer, and she was momentarily stunned. 

“Okay,” he agreed, leading her toward the path and up it. “We’ll take the kids home too.”

“Kids?”

“Yea, frick ‘n’ frack, and Ziva,” Gibbs answered teasingly. He knew the team had fallen in step behind them, Ducky and Lizzie following. Jenny glanced over her shoulder to see Lizzie and Ducky grinning like the cat that got the canary. Robbie had caught up to Lizzie and was offering her a ride home, to which Jenny was surprised she accepted. 

“Lizzie, what about your car?” Jenny questioned.

“Oh right, well, Jenny, you can drive it and not get the rental soaked,” Lizzie said. Jenny sighed again.  _ Matchmaking again _ ,  _ try for quiet next time, Lizzie-la _ . They reached the cars, and Jenny and Gibbs waited for the others to leave before Jenny put the car in reverse and then threw it into park again. Gibbs looked at her, wondering what the problem was now.

“Jen?”

“Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”  
“Ducky figured it out on his own,” Gibbs reminded.

“I’m guilty of murder; I thought you were always after the truth.”

“I figured out the truth.”

“Justice for the victims?”

“Lizzie has justice.”  
“So you’re just going to overlook the fact I killed someone in cold blood.”

“Revenge is hardly cold blood,” Gibbs assured. “Besides, I can’t blame you for doing what I would have done; seems a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”  
“I didn’t tell you the whole truth.”  
“I’m used to that,” he said. “Besides, you had no reason to trust me at the time.”

“So that’s it?” She said, meeting his eyes. “You’re just going to ignore the fact…”

“You told me the truth; you don’t have to tell anyone else,” he responded, taking her hand that was resting on the gearshift. She studied his eyes for a second and glanced down at their joined hands. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“You could lose your job, Jen,” he tried.

“You hate my job.” He figured that was an entirely different argument. 

“I don’t hate your job.” To be addressed at an entirely different time. 

“Why are you doing this, Jethro?” She said again, not accepting the answer. If he was going to worm out of this one, he was sadly mistaken. 

“Because you wouldn’t use any of the information against me,” Gibbs said finally. “And because I would have helped you.” She put the car in reverse and turned it around, merging back onto the road. He assumed that meant the answer accepted.

“So pulling me into the lake?”

“I did not pull you, Lizzie let go of you; it was gravity.” 

“Likely story,” she responded.

“It’s the truth,” he protested. “Not that I minded the view.” She ignored that but to the turn just a little bit sharper than she needed to. “You finally learned to drive.”

“I could drive Jethro; what you did was attempting to fly in a car. Must’ve rubbed off,” she shrugged her shoulders. 

“Fine, fine.” He paused, staring at her. She had that smile that he knew meant trouble. “So about that bed…”

“We are not driving back to DC.”

“No….” He drawled. He didn’t get where this was going. 

“So I’ll drop you at the inn you’re staying at, and I’ll go home.” She caught the pout;  _ he never liked it when things didn’t go his way. _ The pout vanished as quickly as it appeared and was replaced with a slight smirk. She hated that; usually, it involved her and trouble. They build into Lizzie’s driveway just behind the others, and there was some small talk until finally Gibbs had taken his team and left. Robbie was determined to protect the house if someone was going to bother the two ladies out in the middle of nowhere. Gibbs hadn’t been too worried; he’d seen Jen’s gun. So he simply waited till dark and took the car and went for a drive from the inn. He happened to end up at this particular driveway; he found some small pebbles and wandered around to the side of the house. He was glad he’d parked the car down the road; he could see Robbie asleep at the wheel of his patrol car. It was a good thing Jenny had her gun. So he wandered around the side of the house and tried to judge which window belonged to which room, till he heard the back door open. Lizzie stepped out with her dog, and the dog immediately looked towards Gibbs.

“I thought Jenny said you were a marine,” Lizzie called into the darkness.

“How…”

“Oh please, like you’re the first guy to come toss stones at a girl’s window. You know how many times she covered for me,” Lizzie chuckled.

“How many times did you cover for her?”

“Not even a one, but I suppose that is a debt I could repay. Down this side of the house, the third window from the right, she closed it because of the draft. Her phone’s on her nightstand, and her gun is under her pillow. I assume she learned that from you?”  
“Or Ziva,” he answered. “So you’re her best friend.”  
“One and only,” Lizzie answered. 

“You wouldn’t…”  
“Agent Gibbs, she and I keep our secrets closely guarded; anything she may or may not have told me about you is kept under lock and key, but if you screw this up well, I’m sure Agent DiNozzo would love to know his Boss tried to write sonnets.” 

“Point taken. She asleep?”

“If you call tossing and turning asleep,” Lizzie said, calling the dog back to her. “Enjoy the night; just make sure to remind her there are vines that grow near that window. And don’t quote Rapunzel; she hated that fairytale.” Lizzie reentered the house and watched from the window until Gibbs disappeared around the side. 

Gibbs counted the windows till he found the one Lizzie had described.  _ Alright, this worked in high school _ ; he just hoped his aim was still good. He tossed one, and it bounced off the windowpane.  _ Forget about the return _ ; he ducked as he threw the next one. Nothing, not even a light going on, he was seriously beginning to think this wasn’t her room, but he tried again, and this time the light went on, and he could hear faint cursing. He could see her silhouette looking around, trying to figure out what sound was disturbing her, and so he tossed another pebble,  _ right on target _ . She turned to the window and threw them open, looking out. She looked down, and he could see her surprise. 

“Jethro, what the hell are you doing?” She demanded.

“Well, I thought I could try Rapunzel, but I’ve been told you’re not a fan, so I was thinking Shakespeare.”

“Shakespeare? Are you nuts?” 

“Well, you said we couldn’t drive back to DC tonight, but it’s tomorrow, so we can go back now,” he said, glancing at his watch, noticing it was just past midnight. She looked down at him in shock; she didn’t think she’d ever been well whatever it was he was doing. “Come on, Jen, haven’t you ever snuck out?”  
“I can’t just leave. Lizzie will be worried if I’m not here later.”

“Like she wouldn’t guess.” Jenny’s ears picked up the distinct sound of her friend’s giggling and stepped away from the window. She opened the door to spot her friend standing there eavesdropping. 

“You put him up to this?”

“Me? Hardly, it woke me up; I came to see what was wrong.” 

“Lizzie!” 

“Oh shush, come on, you want me to go bring him some of the sonnets you saved? Maybe he could try that?”

“You’ve lost it.”  
“I’m your best friend; I’m simply concerned for your well being. Now go climb down the vine Juliet.” Jenny’s eyes widened further. 

“I could just go out the front door.”

“Lizzie, Jenny!” Robbie’s voice sounded from the front. 

“Shit!” Jenny cursed. She searched the room and found a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. “I cannot believe I’m doing this.” Jenny peeked her head out of the window and found Jethro leaning against the house. “Jethro, if I fall and break my neck, I’m going to haunt you.”

“I’ll catch you.”

“Right,” she said. 

“Lizzie, is everything alright? I heard noises. Is Jenny alright?” Robbie’s voice echoed up the hallway. 

“Crap.” She scanned the side of the house and found a vine giving it a good tug. It seemed strong enough, but she looked down; she hadn’t ever enjoyed heights.

“Oh, come on, Jen, don’t tell me you’re still scared of heights!” Gibbs teased.

“I am not scared of heights,” she whispered, trying to climb out the window without looking down.

“Uh-huh, the whole time we were on the Eiffel Tower, you clang.”

“I don’t remember you complaining,” Jenny shot back as she pulled herself onto the ledge. She shimmed down the vine, but about ten feet from the ground, she heard the telltale snap. Jenny had expected to land on the unforgiving ground but felt something hard, but not necessarily ground underneath her. She turned slightly and found Gibbs had somewhat caught her. 

“You need to work on the landing,” he teased. Jenny swatted him lightly, and he grabbed her hand before deciding to roll them, so she ended up on her back. “And gain some weight, you’re too thin.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” she replied, trying to ignore the tingling sensation running through her. “Now you going to let me up.”

“Kinda comfortable, actually,” he teased her. 

“Lizzie, are you sure Jenny’s asleep?” Robbie’s voice came through the open window. 

“Unless you want to get shot at, we should probably leave,” she suggested, but even that didn’t make him move.  _ Well, two can play at this _ , she decided; she locked her arms around his neck and shifted one leg rolling them over, so she ended up on top. He looked momentarily stunned like he had the first time she had done that… _ Stop. Bad Thought _ . She quickly got up and offered him a hand, which he accepted, and they turned back toward the edge of the house. 

“Car’s this way,” he said quietly as he led her through the edge of the woods. They got to the car and got in. He kept the lights off till they were back on the road, and he turned out toward the lake. 

“We’re not seriously going back to DC.”  
“Nah, I heard about this place near the lake.”

“The cliffs. Not that easy, Jethro,” she taunted. 

“That wasn’t the name I heard,” Gibbs pouted again, but she knew they had passed the cliffs a couple of minutes later and so instead decided she may as well enjoy the scenery. “So this is where you grew up?”

“You sound surprised.”  
“I always thought you went to boarding school.”

“Hardly, though it felt that way when my father stayed more at the townhouse and just left me here. That’s why Lizzie and I ended up such good friends. I spent a lot of time with her family.” They pulled up to a clearing right alongside the lake on the opposite side of the lake from where they’d been earlier. He got out, and she followed, looking around. Nothing.  _ All right, I give. _ “So what are we doing out here?”

“Well, I thought we could watch the meteor showers,” he suggested taking out some camping mats and blankets from the trunk as well as a case of beer. 

“Meteor showers?”  
“I heard McGee say something about them,” he shrugged as if it wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to do something this… _well romantic actually_ , she thought. “DiNozzo wanted details said it’s a great pick up line.” _And there it goes. Well, he tried._ She helped him lay out the mats and sat down next to him. It was with surprising ease that they curled up next to each other under the blankets, and she simply laid her head on his chest, pulling the blanket tighter to her. 

“So when do these meteor showers start?”

“I don’t know. I just caught that they were tonight, and I thought, seeing as you dragged me through that planetarium, that you might like that. And seeing that we live in the city, you don’t get to see them that much.” 

“I didn’t drag you anywhere; you went willingly,” she reminded rather touched that he remembered how interested she’d been. But that was Jethro for you, always remembering the little things, and when he could figure out how to communicate, he did a good job, but mostly it was through other methods,  _ like dragging you out in the middle of the night to see a meteor shower. _ She felt his hand lightly rubbing her back, no doubt trying to make sure she hadn’t been hurt in her fall, but she wished he’d either stop or not stop; she couldn’t decide. When he touched her that way, she tended to forget where she was or who she was. 

“Hm-hm,” he agreed. “So any other skeletons I should know about?”

“I was taken into custody when I was twelve for going cow tipping,” she replied earnestly. She felt his laughter rumble through his chest, and she was sure he had an image to go with it. “And I dyed my hair blonde, once.”

“No?” He protested. 

“Yep, really didn’t like it, though,” she remembered.

“Red hair suits you,” he said. She wouldn’t even comment on that, but half the time, she wondered if he missed her flaming red hair as she did; now it was just sort of tinted red. “This shade particularly.” 

“They say stress induces grey; apparently, I’m under stress. I have to go get it done now.”

“It happens,” he replied. He tightened his grip on her for half a second as he heard a faint sound. He watched her adjust for a split second and realized that, well, she might be Director; her agent skills were from dead. 

“Owl,” she told him. He nodded; he had guessed that as well. He felt her tilt her head up to watch the stars again, and he took her free hand and pointed to each star he could remember. 

“Orion’s belt…and the little dipper and bigger dipper, and…hm…Pegasus?”

“Wrong season,” she corrected as she shifted her hand to intertwine with his. “But I’m impressed.” 

“You should be,” he announced, trying to figure out the one he’d missed. 

“I’ll get you a star chart for your birthday,” she said, amused. 

“You already did.”

“I did?”

“Yep, I found it after we went left the planetarium.” She looked confused but then raised an eyebrow. She had bought it for herself, swearing she would be able to name all the stars, but it had been missing from the bags, and she just assumed it had never made it into the bag. She watched him reach over and grab the blue tube with the rolled-up map. 

“I was wondering what happened to that,” she said, leaning up on one arm. 

“Well, you were the expert, so I figured you got it for me to follow along,” he answered innocently, wrapping his arm higher up her back, so she, in effect, collapsed on top of him. 

“Well, good, then you can tell me all about the meteor showers,” she informed. “And I’ll be sure to ask lots of questions.”

“So if I get the answer right…” he trailed off as his hand continued his soothing path up and down her back. She smiled faintly. It had been a game they had played when they were incredibly bored, for every question the other answered correctly they got a kiss, whoever won got to pick what they did for dinner. Jenny was usually very motivated to succeed. 

“Well, I’ll think of something,” she assured. “So a meteor shower comes how many times a year?”

“It uh…varies,” he said hesitantly, rubbing an incredibly sore spot on her shoulder. 

“Correct.” She should have been more specific. 

“So what do I get?”

“What do you want?” She asked and paused. “Within reason.”

“Well, how do I know if what I want is within reason?” He questioned. 

“Do you think I would say no?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. 

“Well, whom would you ask the question to?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to ask me, the Director, the partner…pick?”

“I want to ask Jen, but it affects the others.” 

“So, what’s the question or request?”

“I want the chance to have that conversation again.”  
“Which one?” She was genuinely puzzled now, she had the feeling he was trying to convey something, but she wasn’t always an expert on how he thought things out.

“Take your pick.”

“Jethro, we’ve had a lot of conversations. You want to narrow the field a little?”

“Nah, never mind. Your turn, let’s see…” his switch was something she hated. She hated that he couldn’t be affected by their memories, and she hated the fact that he thought she wasn’t either. Maybe because he had so many things he suppressed, he was good at flipping switches, but she couldn’t do that. Not anymore. She reached up with her hand taking hold of his chin, forcing his eyes to meet hers.

“There’s no such thing as never mind in this, you ask me what you want, or you don’t talk at all,” she said. “You don’t get to take back a question.” 

He met her eyes and could see she wasn’t going to let him out of this one. It was fair; he hadn’t let her out till she’d told him all the details about the murder; he supposed it was only fitting he was forced to reveal things as well. But he had never been very good with words; it wasn’t that he didn’t know what to say, it was he didn’t know how, so he’d always opted for other forms of communication. He leaned up and kissed her softly. Gibbs felt her tense for a second, and he pulled back slightly to meet her eyes. She looked surprised, stunned, and speechless too. He kissed her again just as soft and then pulled further back, trying to see if he’d made his point. The surprise was still there, but she had this smile on her face that he remembered all too well; she was happy. 

“You could have just done that in the first place,” she sighed. “During any one of our conversations,” she added, leaning back down and kissing him this time. He’d been kissed a lot, by a lot of different girls, but her kisses were always different. She had a playful kiss, a tempting kiss, an angry kiss, a loving kiss, and one that was all of them combined. He’d always liked kissing her. It was just a means to end with some women, but he could kiss her every day, and it would be the best part of the day. It wouldn’t ever get boring. 

Sadly they missed the meteor shower. Lizzie missed Jenny at breakfast, but not that bad. The team missed Gibbs at the morning coffee run, but neither was too concerned. Robbie missed the tire tracks leaving the house as he pulled away that morning, and everyone was thankful for that. They only got a little worried when Jenny missed her flight and Gibbs missed the drive back to DC. Except that Lizzie had gotten a letter and the team an email explaining that the Director of NCIS was wanted back in DC immediately, and Gibbs wasn’t about to let her go anywhere without a security detail. So no one panicked, Jenny called Lizzie when she was back in DC, but the phone call was cut short. Gibbs was waiting for his team the morning they got back at his desk, with the obituary of Earl Massie resting nicely on the desk and the announcement that Lizzie had been named the best Jam maker in the whole state. 

A week later, the team was a little puzzled because Tony was left in charge while Jenny went (in support of her friend) to Earl’s funeral, and Gibbs went with her as security. Lizzie wasn’t too broken up when they didn’t show for the funeral, Robbie was a little suspicious, but he didn’t figure it out. And that week, Gibbs and Jenny got to watch the lunar eclipse. Or most of it anyway. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Look at this aserene posted a fic, why? Well, we went to virtual learning this week, so just like last year, something (an old fic, a chapter, a new fic, something) posted a day until we're back in person.


End file.
